Lore of Death
The Lore of Death allows the Halaku to inflict both physical and spiritual decay, to know death, and to rule the bodies of the dead. 'Abilities' *• Read Fate: The Fallen learns what caused a target's death, and may even witness the last few days before the death occurred. Low-Grace: The Fallen can only learn about violent deaths. **'Cost:' - **'Dice Pool:' Intelligence + Investigation + Death **'Action:' Instant **'Duration' Instant The number of successes achieved determines the amount of detail your character can determine about the mortal's fate. One success provides a picture of the moment of death. Each additional success goes further back in time, from minutes at two successes, hours at three, and days at four. It also provides a broader context for the circumstances behind the person's passing. Low-Grace: Monstrous demons are able to discern a subject's fate only if that person died as a result of violence, whether accidental or intentional. *•• Decay: The Fallen causes an object to decay by touch. This will grievously hurt living creatures. High-Torment: Everything around the Fallen decays. **'Cost:' - **'Dice Pool:' Stamina + Medicine + Death versus subject's Stamina + Power stat **'Action:' contested; resistance is reflexive **'Duration' Lasting Your Slayer must be able to touch his intended target to perform this evocation. Each success inflicts one health level of aggravated damage. If performed on a dead body, each success removes a point from the body's Stamina. When all the dots have been eliminated, the body is reduced to dust. The process works in a similar fashion on inanimate objects, but the difficulty varies depending on an object's composition. Decaying an article of wood or cloth, for example, requires 1 success, while decaying a piece of plastic requires 2 successes. Decaying metal require 4 successes, and stone 5. Each success decays one cubic foot of material. Low-Grace: Monstrous demons affect people and objects in an area as opposed to single targets. Everything within a radius of yards equal to the character's Torment score is affected. *••• Vision of Mortality: The Fallen inflicts a vision of death on the target to frighten it. This is one of the few evocations that works against Fallen, too. High-Torment: Everybody around the Fallen is affected by the vision. **'Cost:' - **'Dice Pool:' Manipulation + Empathy + Death versus subject's Composure + Power stat **'Action:' contested; resistance is reflexive **'Duration' Scene If you succeed, the target abandons her action and flees form your demon's presence. If the target's roll is a dramatic failure, he flees and suffers a temporary derangement. This evocation can target individuals up to a number of yards away equal to your character's Torment rating. A target who wins the resisted roll can't be subjected to this evocation again for the remainder of the scene. Low-Grace: Monstrous demons affect every living being around them as opposed to a specific target. The demon affects targets within a number of yards equal to their Torment score. *•••• Extinguish Life: The Fallen separates body and spirit, causing the target to die peacefully and painlessly. When the target is a Fallen, they simply take damage. High-Torment: Everybody around the Fallen may die if mortal or take damage if Fallen. **'Cost:' 01 Faith **'Dice Pool:' Dexterity + Athletics + Celestials (versus special) **'Action:' contested; resistance is reflexive **'Duration' Lasting The Slayer must be able to physically touch her intended target to perform this evocation. Compare your successes to the target's Stamina. If your successes exceed the target's Stamina, he's killed instantly. If your successes are less than the target's Stamina, each one inflicts a level of bashing damage as the Slayer's icy touch saps the strength from the mortal's body. If this evocation is employed against another demon or supernatural beings and the successes exceed the target's Stamina, each success inflicts a level of aggravated damage. if the successes are less than the demon's Stamina, apply them as levels of bashing damage. Low-Grace: Monstrous demons don't need to touch their victims to employ this evocation. Their icy hatred radiates from them in all directions, stilling the hearts of living beings. The high-Torment version of this evocation affects every living being within a number of yards equal to your character's Faith score. N.B. Vampires and undead are immune to this power *••••• Unlife: The Fallen raises a dead body to do their bidding, though these walking-dead need tight supervision. Low-Grace: The walking-dead are instead violent and uncontrollable. **'Cost: '''01 Faith **'Dice Pool:' Stamina + Medicine + Death **'Action:' Instan **t'Duration''' Special A walking-dead creature has only one point in each of its Physical Attributes upon creation, though each extra success can be used to add additional points in any Physical Attributes, at your discretion. These creatures don't suffer wound penalties in combat, using their full dice pools at all times. They must suffer no less than 10 health levels of damage before being destroyed. Undead minions are mindless automatons, acting solely according to your demon's will. Each time your character wants one of her minions to perform an action, make a Wits + Death roll. If your character controls more than one creature at a time, you must divide your dice pool among them per turn. A failed roll causes a zombie to continue the last action it was commanded to perform. Alternatively, a Slayer can program a minion to perform a rote set of instructions; one action per point of Wits that your character has, all by spending a temporary Willpower Point. Since these instructions are transmitted mentally, it's possible to create a detailed set of commands, including complicated travel routes and detailed physical descriptions. Once programmed, however, a minion can't be given further commands. If the demon uses her mind to command the minion to perform an action outside the realm of its instructions, its programming is lost. Slayers can raise and control a number of minions equal to their Torment at one time. The bodies must be within Torment in yards to be affected. The effects of the evocation last for the duration of the scene. If your character wishes, the effects can be made permanent by the expenditure of a Willpower dot per body. A permanent minion remains until destroyed, and it can't be raised again thereafter. Disembodied fallen may possess animated corpses with the Slayer's permission, or they can try to wrest control of programmed corpses from the demon with a resisted Resolve + Composure roll. Unless transformed by use of other lore, the demon's host remains a dead body with all due appearances, smell, and physical limitations. Low-Grace: Monstrous demons can't prevent their Torment from infusing creations with an unnatural craving for violence, raising flesh-eating monsters that must be held in check constantly or they attack any living thing they can reach, including the Slayer herself. If not programmed with a rote set of instructions, these creatures go into a violent frenzy unless their creator makes a successful Composure roll each turn. This roll is in addition to any to impose commandments from action to action. 'APOCALYPTIC FORM: NAMTAR' The angels manifest as shadowy figures wreathed in tendrils of ghostly mist that shift and writhe from moment to moment, occasionally reflecting the angels' thoughts in strange, symbolic forms. A pall of silence surrounds these figures, and their feet never seem to touch the ground. Their skin is as pale as alabaster, and their faces are constantly hidden in deep shadow. 'POWERS:' *'Wings:' A pair of Eagle Wings extends from the character's shoulders. The character can glide up to three times her running speed per turn. *'Casts No Reflection:' The demon's image doesn't appear in a mirror, nor can it be captured in a photograph or by a video camera. *'Improved Initiative:' +2 Initiative *'Pass Without Trace:' Stealth rolls gain the 8 again quality, the character leaves to foot prints or trails. 'LOW-GRACE FORM:' Monstrous Namtar exude the cold aura of death, indiscriminately draining the life of every living thing around them. Flowers wilt in their passing, children grow glassy-eyed, and the old feel mortality grip their heart. The Visage of Death confers the following high-Torment special capabilities: 'LOW-GRACE POWERS:' *'Aura of Entropy:' Plants wilt in the demon's presence, and living beings are suffused with an icy chill that saps their strength. Mortals and other demons within a number of yards equal to the demon's torment lose one die from their dice pools unless a successful Stamina + Power stat - Slayer's Torment roll is made. The effects of this capability persist for the duration of the scene. *'Cloak or Shadows:' The demon is shrouded in a pall of darkness, making her features difficult to see in the best of light, and rendering her near-invisible at night. All Stealth rolls gain the 8 again quality whenever the demon stands in a pool of shadow or moves in darkness. If the character is attacked, the rules for Blind Fighting apply to the attacker. *'Damage Resistance:' The demon is capable of shrugging off damage that would cripple a normal human. She may ignore any wound penalties for the duration of the scene. Penalties for injuries incurred while in apocalyptic form apply again once human form is resumed. *'Death Grip:' The demon's spirit can cling to life past the point of human endurance. If the demon's host body suffers levels of lethal or aggravated damage up to his health, she can still hold onto life with a successful Composure + Torment roll. if successful, the character falls into a coma until the following dawn, at which point she rises with one health level and one less temporary Torment (The character must have at least 1 dot of Torment, Torment lost are regained once all damage is healed). DTF: Demon: The Fallen Rulebook, p. 209-211 <<<< BACK